Nobody seems to want to hear it, but the best flying, easiest building 3D foamie available anywhere is the Charger RC CR-1.

It costs a bit more than a cheap park-flyer to get it in the air with top-of-the-line gear, but it's well worth it. I always have one of these with me.

Lots of people say they can build their own...they usually end-up with something that will fly, but just barely...or they have some tail-heavy piece of junk that hovers well, but really isn't good for much else.

If you want a foamie for 3D training and an all-around excellent plane get one of these. You will need a good motor, ESC, lipos, RX and servos...don't skimp. Once you have all of the electronics, the planes themselves are relatively cheap.

I am by no means a good foamie builder, but I can assemble the airframe on these babies in under 20 minutes. Takes me about an hour to install and program the gear after that.

Here in Southern CA, we have been flying these things for a couple of years, but they are available via mail-order everywhere. I really love these planes and I fly one every single day. If I had it to do over again I would have saved the money on flight simulators and just gotten a few more of these planes instead.

Now that there is a decent quality charger that will charge up to 5 lipos at a time, you will never be unable to fly.

Sorry for rambling on and on, but I can't stress enough how perfectly suited this plane is for someone who wants to learn 3D without risking a more significant investment. These things glue together in a snap, are easily repairable and will TEACH you to fly better in all regards.

I am hooked on these planes. I fly them at parks, parking lots, AMA airfields, farms, vacant lots, commercial buildings and just about anywhere else I can safely do so. I fly glow and gass at a regular AMA field, but without the foam, I would still be WISHING I could do some of the things I have learned with the help of my foamies.

I have flown dozens of other foamies, park-flyers, and '3D' electrics....there is just no comparison. http://www.chargerrc.com

WOW, long post....sorry about that.